China has executed four Canadian citizens, Canada claims

Canada's Foreign Minister Melanie Joly has said China has executed four Canadian citizens in recent weeks, despite pleas for leniency from the Canadian government.

"We strongly condemn the executions that did happen against Canadians in China," Ms Joly told reporters in Ottawa.

She said she was unable to discuss details of the case due to privacy requests from the affected families.

In response, China said it acted "in accordance with the law".

"China is a country under the rule of law," foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said, adding it had protected "the legitimate rights of the parties concerned as well as the consular rights of the Canadian side, in accordance with the law".

Earlier, China had defended the executions in a statement sent to the Canadian Globe and Mail newspaper, which indicated the Canadians had been convicted over drug offenses.

"Drug-related crime is a severe crime recognised worldwide as extremely harmful to the society," the embassy statement sent to the Globe said.

"China always imposes severe penalties on drug-related crimes and maintains a 'zero tolerance' attitude towards the drug problem."

Ms Joly said that she and former prime minister Justin Trudeau, who left office last week, had asked China for leniency.

China classifies death penalty statistics as a state secret, though rights groups including Amnesty International believe thousands of people are executed in the country every year.

Relations between China and Canada have been tense in recent years.

The arrest of a senior Chinese telecom executive on a US warrant in Vancouver in December 2018 and China's retaliatory detention of two Canadians on espionage charges plunged relations into a deep freeze.

Ties were strained further over allegations of Chinese interference in Canadian elections in 2019 and 2021, charges Beijing has denied.

In 2023 Ms Joly expelled a Chinese diplomat accused of targeting a Canadian opposition politician who has been a vocal critic of the ruling Communist Party in Beijing, as well as his family.

Canada has also criticised a security crackdown in Hong Kong and China's treatment of its Uyghur Muslim minority.